Chapter 80: You need to get a new idea
Mack’s POV—Monday
I insisted on protecting the CO. She’s major and she needs serious firepower and a no-shit attitude at her back. I’m not saying Linden ain’t shit; I’m saying I’m not afraid to do time again. He needs to stay clean. I’m ride or die.
She saved NYC. Men in this branch are serious about her. The moment Thomas told me what went down, I swung my balls and called Tank Saturday morning. First time I ever called him ’bout something but I’m serious. The CO will have protection.
Tank agreed. He told me to suit up and protect the CO. Any shit goes down, let him know. He’ll clean it up. Hector called. I think he thanked me but it was said between clenched teeth, so I let him know I was serious about this. I wouldn’t fuck up. He was silent then told me that if I ran into any problems that I could call on him.
That was said clearly. I got the meaning. I let him know he was on my speed dial.
I threw deuces at Javi and Jorge (homies know more street than they let on but they smooth with their shit. They teaching me. I’m learning.) and packed my bags. Told my boys that I’ll be back in a month or so. Gotta go visit Uncle Thomas.
Yala looked at me and asked, “Which pen?”
“No pen. Serious. Protecting the Managing Director’s back.”
Yala looked at me like ‘Yeah, right. Who you fuckin’ now?’ The divorce was nasty but I was/am a faithful fucker. She was the wifey and the mother of my boys. I didn’t step out. Not my fault the ladies like the goods (shit, even the CO’s 80-year-old granny likes the goods. I’m still laughing over that.). Still, she was assuming I’m fucking the CO. Nah, I ain’t havin’ it. I don’t need Ranger burying my ass so I pulled up a picture of Ms. Plum on my phone.
Hey, the Boss Lady is important. Next time she call, I wanna know the moment I say ‘Yo’.
She looked at the CO then glared at me. “Didn’t realize you went swirly these days.”
“Ranger’s woman.” Her eyebrows rose in shock. I nodded. “Yeah. This is work. This ain’t no field trip. Major shit’s going down and I asked for this assignment. You can call me like normal. Imma call the boys every night.”
I kissed and hugged my boys, threw deuces at my ex (you divorced me. Quit lookin’ hateful), glared at the new fucker she got, and left.
I packed my shanks in the checked baggage, along with my knives and guns. I’m ready.
Fuck with the CO. I’m ready to shank homies, son.
I land in Miami and Thomas meets me outside. I hop in the truck and we hug.
“Sup, man!” He grins. “Never thought I’d get yo ass out of Brooklyn.”
I laugh. “CO needs someone at her back. I’m ready.”
“Cool. Diego’s glad it’s you. Linden landed so he should be coming out.” Thomas nods back toward the terminal and I see Hal Linden again. Fucker is BIG and I ain’t small.
“Shit! That homie eats his Wheaties, huh?” Thomas snorts to hide a laugh. “Where they breed his big ass?”
“Kansas.”
“Fuck. Imma start looking into some Kansas chicks then. Make me a motherfucking football team.”
Thomas starts laughing his ass off while I hop out the truck and nod at Linden. “Linden.”
“Odom.” I reach out to grab his second bag and stash it in the backseat while he loads the suitcase. We hop in and as Thomas drives back to RangeMan, Hal and I reattach the hardware. I’m surprised this man carries two guns, two knives, a stun gun and a box of matches.
“Matches?”
He smiles. It’s a cold smile. “Utility item.”
I nod. I might start carrying some then. I wanna see what he uses ’em for. I like arson, as a weapon, but it’s messy. For the longest I couldn’t carry (convicted felon but I got my rights restored; gotta love the RangeMan lawyers) but I still had to do range time. I learned to be creative.
NYC leadership is a bunch of stabbing muthafuckas, which works. NYC is all about close combat, pointy elbows and bein’ hungry.
We arrive at RangeMan Miami and walk in. The CO is there. “Mack! Hal!” We both move forward to hug her but I beat Linden. She laughs while I twirl her around.
“Yo, Boss Lady, I hear you need men at your back ready to shank,” I tell her.
She laughs and hugs Hal, who immediately starts checking her over. “I’m fine, Hal. No scars, no bruising.” She turns to me. “Yeah, I’m being told I’m a high value target.”
I nod. “I believe it. You’re a ‘high-value’ target within RangeMan.” Everyone looks at me, confused. “Shit …how many offices are asking you to come back and visit?” Everyone starts laughing. “Exactly, Boss. Everybody wants some of your time and attention.”
“Thanks, Mack. Well, you remember our discussion a few weeks ago?” I nod, smiling. I been working my way through my GED workbook for 90 minutes each day. Jorge and Javi been helping me. With those homies helpin’ me, I understand all of it except science. All us suck there.
She smiles and waves us into an office and shuts the door in Thomas’s and Diego’s faces, waving her fingers. “Well, I’ve got you and an XO at my back.” She grins. “Time to practice the skills. I have a list of things I need to do, so I’m asking you to help me with Miami’s assessment.”
I stare at her. “Me? I mean, I don’t know what you look for—”
“You have good instincts. You know men. I want you to help me assess the men here. Help me get an understanding of this branch. Pat arrives later today, so he can help you with the skills.” I frown and she shakes her head. “No, no shanking him. By the way, shanking?” She shrugs. Hal smiles.
I make stabbing motions. “Stabbing.”
“Ah. I thought so. Anyway, I’m assessing him. Don’t let him be your concern. Branch and men in Miami. OK? That would really help me.”
“OK. Whatever you say.”
So I’m on the hunt. Hal took me to the side and gave me the orders for the CO’s security. She can roam as she likes in the building but the moment she steps one pinkie toe outside, we’re at her back. Cool. Thomas is headed back to the airport to grab Pat, Boss Lady’s in her ‘thinking position’ upstairs, and Hal and Diego are reviewing contracts and finances.
I been roaming around this building for an hour and I’m surprised. These men are assholes when it comes to women. I mean, we heard Miami was macho, but this shit ain’t macho. This here is no love for the ladies. Damn! I’ve heard more nasty jokes about women here in one hour than we tell in one month in NYC and we got some serious ball-busters up there.
Shit. They got me wondering about how I treat women. Am I this bad?
“Look, this shit’s simple. We need to figure out what she’s doing and ensure we give the right answers.”
I stop and listen. This is interesting.
“Why in the hell should we care? I mean, whatever she thinks we’re fucking up in, she’ll be shown she’s wrong.”
“Simple. Every XO is taking her bullshit seriously. Diego and Thomas love her ass. They’re ready to take orders from her. Fuck her. The worst bounty hunter in history is gonna tell a bunch of military and gang trained men how to shoot a gun? Seriously? I don’t tell her ass how to make a meatloaf. She needs to stay in her fucking lane.”
Whoa . . . I walk into the break room. This shit’s unbelievable to me. Every man turns around in panic for a moment. There’s three of them and they calm seeing me. I merely nod and look over the pitiful selection of snacks, finally taking a water and yogurt from the fridge. Shit. I miss Lucia. No, wait, Maria’s here. What’s up with this?
“Yo!”
“Yeah?”
“Where’s your snacks?”
The guys roll their eyes. “Maria’s too good to cook now. Enjoy the granola.”
I sit and pop the yogurt. They look at each other. “Mack?” I look over. He stands up and walks over. “Ignacio, Nacho. Welcome to Miami.”
“Thanks.”
“Tell me something. She really pass that assessment at 80%?”
I nod. “Fair and square.”
He snorts. “But that was 80% for women, right?” I nod. “So that was really like 40% for men.” He shrugs and stands.
I scrape the last of the yogurt. Damn, I’m still hungry. Wonder if Maria would make me a little sumthin’ if I ask politely. Gotta be something I can help her with in exchange for some food.
“Yo, that may be, but Imma tell you this: the military sets those standards. 80% for women is still 80%. The CO achieved. Why hate?”
“Because they lowered the standards so she could pass.”
“Our military lowered the standards?”
Nacho nods. “Yeah. If things were equal, women would have to pass at the same level as men. No handicaps for pussy.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“And you can’t say otherwise.”
I look at all of them, memorizing faces for later. “And what did you pass RangeMan standards at? 70%? Because you damn sure didn’t bust 80% like she did. Standards weren’t lowered. She’s a woman. She passed the standards for women. They ain’t as big as us. Quit hating. Otherwise you’ll get a chance to see exactly how pointy her elbows are.”
The men are quiet for a moment then they all snort.
“Yeah, but they’re always screaming they want equality, then turn around and yell about wanting accommodations for the fact that they’re women,” another man points out. The others pat him on the back for making a good point.
I chuckle. “Dumbasses. I don’t know about you but I don’t want equality.”
“Why?”
I grin. “I ain’t interested in periods, mood swings, or carrying babies. I been through pregnancy twice with a chick. No thanks. I respect the power of women but I don’t want to be one. They’re much stronger than men.”
I stand and toss my yogurt up in the trash. On my way out the door, I stop at the table. “Yo, Nacho?”
“Yeah?” He’s already standing so he turns slightly. Perfect.
My uppercut is clean. I boxed as a kid and me and Javi back in the gym. Something else me and my new partner share. Homie is good; his cross is a thing of beauty, but my uppercut?
I watch Nacho hit the floor and slide. I cold-cocked his ass in the jaw. He’ll need to get that shit wired. I look at his homies, who look stunned.
“Yo, put the word out. You dis the CO ’round me and that’s the least of the shit I do to you. Calling that woman ‘pussy’? I betcha you don’t call Ranger ‘dick’, do you? You dissing his woman and insulting her. That pisses me off.” I snort angrily and look at all of ’em. They pissed now. “Wake his dumb ass up and hide him before Linden come looking for him cuz we all know what that homie is like on some mats.”
I stomp out of the break room. Where the fuck is Diego?
“Yo!” I slam into Diego’s door and walk straight into his office. I know it’s disrespectful but I’m pissed. Diego slams his blank face into place and stares at me. So does Hal. “Look, I know I’m outta place just walking into yo’ office like this but I need some guidelines, some boundaries.” I lean over his desk and look at him square in the face. “How far am I allowed to fuck your men up? Cuz I just cold cocked some fucker named Nacho and if I see his ass again before I calm down, I might shank him.”
The blank faces drop. I see confusion.
“What happened?” Diego asks, sitting back and steepling his fingers.
Lesson from Jorge: Pitched fingers? Good. Pitched fingers sitting back? Not so good. I think this is an indication that Diggy is pissed. Hal? Hal’s drumming his fingers one at a time, from the little finger to the index finger. Meaning? Ambiguous but rarely good.
Homie got a finger fetish. It bothers me. Now I’m watching fingers.
“I walk into the break room cuz I overhear these fuckers talking. They shit was disrespectful of the Boss Lady from jump. So I grab a yogurt, sit and listen. They ask me about her clearance and I tell ’em she cleared at 80%. Yo boy said some shit about that being like 40% for men and no handicaps for pussy. I woulda shanked his ass but I’m thinking it’s unfair to ask Maria and Rafe to help me clean blood on my first day here.”
I’m pacing in Diego’s office, jabbing at the air, trying to work off steam. I look over and both men have half-smiles on their faces. Fingers are flat on the desk. OK, not me.
“This shit ain’t funny! I need you or the Boss Lady to give me some rules cuz I been walking your building and I’m ready to fuck ’em up left, right, and motherfucking center!”
They start laughing and I still don’t see what’s so fucking funny. Thomas and Pat walk in and Thomas shuts the door.
“Homes, what happened?”
I tell him the same story, Thomas holding his hands up to give me something to hit, and watch him smile.
“Mack?” I look at Diego. He’s grinning. “You cleared. That’s Miami rules. Fuck ’em up on sight. We’re not scheduling mat time for it. We’re taking care of it at point of infraction. You clear.”
“Then yo’ boys better shut up around me. Hard to watch a monitor with black eyes.” I turn back around before leaving. “Yo, mat time?”
“Pass this time. Do it again and we’ll make an appointment.”
I nod and stalk back out. I’m headed to the gym. I gotta release some steam.
I’m in the gym for 20 minutes before Mario finds me. He’s grinning.
“Uppercut? Nice.” I glare at him and he laughs. “All of Miami’s not like that. I’m not.”
I know that but I’m pissed. I’ve worked with Mario for years. I know he’s cool peeps but this shit right here? This shit right here? This is fucking ridiculous! Calling the Boss Lady ‘pussy’? I’m still angry about that. That woman is fucking brilliant and she deserves respect. Any fucker not giving her the respect will find himself fucked up messin’ with me.
I see now what was up with moving Maria around. Now the shit’s plain as day. I bet she threatened to poison these muthafuckas. Sweet lady like that havin’ to hear this bullshit all day? I’da shanked ’em all.
He waves me to the mats and tosses boxing gloves in my direction. I lace ’em up and take my stance. “Then what the fuck is going on here?” He sends out a few testing jabs that I check easily. I can see Mario is a decent boxer.
“Nacho is part of a group of five, headed by Mando’s cousin. Worst sexists in the building. They asses gotta go and we been beating them up for the past five months. We’re hoping the CO fires ’em while she’s here.”
“Why won’t Mando?” Lots of jabs and punches now. Yeah, he’s a good boxer and I’m calming down.
“Antonio is his cousin.”
“And?” I’m confused. “What’s that got to do with firing the other fuckers? If he don’t wanna fire his cousin, he could make some shit happen, but fire the other fuckers. They ain’t family! Damn!”
I’m tryin’ real hard to be neutral to Mando on that shit. I remember how peeps disrespected Javi back in the day and homie was trying to hold shit down while bein’ stabbed in the back. Even I dissed Javi and I was wrong for that shit. I hope Mando got some kinda excuse like that ‘cuz otherwise I’m just gonna think his ass is weak.
Mario snorts. “Yeah, we’ve started givin’ ’em the cold shoulder. RangeMan brotherhood and all but they gotta go. They aren’t brothers anymore.”
“Yeah, that’s what’s up. His ass gotta go. That shit was disrespectful.” We really moving around the mats now and we’re gaining a small audience.
We’re doin’ body shots; nothing worse than a busted lip in front of a client. We in a clinch now, so he whispers, “The cameras were on. The sound wasn’t, so everyone here has seen the uppercut. They’re impressed.” He releases and we start dancing around the mats again. I switch up to stick and move. He grins and matches me.
“So when’s the CO gonna start her interviews?”
“Dunno. That’s on her schedule, not mine. My job is to be her back.” Don’t worry ’bout what she doing. Handle yo’ shit and you won’t have problems.
He nods and we keep moving for another 30 minutes. One hour. I’m tired. I tap out. I slip the gloves off and hold out my hand to shake.
“Welcome to Miami. Me and Deuce will get you acquainted with the landscape real fast.”
We shower and head to his office. Deuce is there and after we greet each other, Mario passes me an envelope. I open it and four pictures slide out. Nacho, the other two fuckers that were there, and some broke Ricky Martin wannabe. I raise an eyebrow.
“The gang of four. Antonio, Nacho, and Patrice are definites. Pedro is smarter. He won’t say shit but he’s in there with them.” He passes me a second envelope. “Diego ain’t fuckin’ around. You don’t get second chances with him. Juan dropped out of their group after he had to do Maria’s job for a month. He got the point. Braulio’s momma ripped his nuts off so he finally planted his ass on one side of the fence.” He grins. “Half Haitian, half Dominicano, if you wanna know.”
How the fuck did that happen? I’m memorizing faces.
“We watching them to see if they intend to backslide. So far, so good.”
Mario passes me a third envelope. “Diego’s fired five so far. Those are the former RangeMen. Julio was the first man fired. Rico, Chris, Manny S, and George soon after. We’re cleaning this branch up.” He sits and sighs. “Moving Mando out was great but, I gotta admit, it’s like the Maria lessons all over again. Now that Mando is gone, I miss his ass. He worked individually with every man in this building to train ’em, prep ’em to be leaders. He tried to make yo’ ass think. All management at Miami miss his ass something desperate.” He smiles at me. That’s good to hear. At least if his men in leadership miss his ass he musta been doin’ something right. Still, fuckers gotta go if they diss the Boss Lady. “Especially his cousin. You’ll meet Antonio. He’s barely been allowed to say a word lately.”
I finally meet up with Antonio, head of bodyguards, leaving Mario’s office. Broke Ricky Martin wannabe. Imma try to be neutral cuz Boss Lady wants my impressions of everyone. No bias, not even for Mario. Gotta see his ass in action.
Lesson from Jorge: Don’t let the smooth taste fool you.
We shake and he’s cool. He smirks. “About to go sell a contract. You wanna see how it’s done?”
Good. My first time out with him and I get to see him in action. “Sure. Let’s see the Miami flava.”
He laughs and we head off to the conference room and greet the clients. The Dominguezes. I can see he’s good at this. He’s easy, friendly, and he chats the man up and flirts (appropriately) with the wife. They’re thrilled and happy to sign with RangeMan. He sells the contract easy but something about his style throws me off, makes me uneasy. Still, it’s a contract for two men and it’s nice. Good revenue there. They leave and I compliment his skills.
He smirks. “People can talk all the shit they want about me, but this department is what it is because I bust my ass in here. I sell the contracts, I get our men scheduled, and I hustle.”
I nod. Still, something’s not right.
The next contract is for Mr. and Mrs. Gadsen. I can see, within 15 minutes, that Antonio will not sell this contract without some help. He’s charming and the man likes him but the lady hates him.
That’s what made me uneasy. He talks down to the women. Well, he don’t talk down to them but he treats them like they amuse him. He directs his questions at the man in the room. That shit ain’t right. Bodyguard’s for the lady. What does he do when it’s just a lady? I mean, Jorge’s been pimpin me and Javi and we selling bodyguard contracts to the single ladies with serious business moves. We’re not dumb to his technique but whatever gets the contracts.
Oh well. Time to apply the lessons. Otherwise, dumbass here won’t land this one.
“Mrs. Gadsen?”
“Yes?”
I smile and lean toward her. “I apologize for my man Antonio here. He’s enthusiastic and he’s trying not to forget all his RangeMan selling points. That’s the reason he’s being a dumbass right now.” I get a small smile and Mr. Gadsen looks confused. Antonio’s put his blank face in place. “Tell me what you do all day? Help me understand what you do that the RangeMan bodyguards can help you.”
“We went through that,” Mr. Gadsen says.
I nod. “True. You and Antonio went through that, but the bodyguard is for your wife, right?” He nods. “So we need to hear from her. If we don’t, we might assign the wrong man.” I look at her. “We need to know what you need. Don’t want to assign you a man you aren’t cool with. Knowing more about you, we’ll get you the right guy the first time.”
She finally smiles, a true smile, and begins talking about the threats, how they make her feel, and what she does all day that she’d need a bodyguard for.
Lesson from Jorge: Let the client talk. Let ’em talk until they run out of things to say. First, it hides the fact that I sound hood for a while. Second, they feel like they’re being heard, especially if you take notes. Third, you end up finding out more than if you’d asked questions.
Homie’s never wrong. Mrs. Gadsen keeps talking, me asking a question every so often, and we learn the kids have been targeted. It was subtle so they didn’t recognize the threats against the kids for what they were. So that’s two bodyguards, maybe three, minimum. Antonio starts reworking the contract while I get more information and at the end we’ve sold a contract for three men. The first contract was a good one but this one’s better. While he makes the corrections, I grab water for the Gadsens. Her husband shakes my hand.
“Thank you,” he says quietly, reddening. “This is why we came to professionals. I wouldn’t have thought of the things you pointed out.” He swallows hard. “I never realized they were after my children.”
I nod. “It’s OK. I’m trained in this.”
“Are you the head of the group?” Mrs. Gadsen asks, leaning forward, smiling big. She and me, we cool. We joked and talked while trying to negotiate that contract. I didn’t cut her husband out but I made it clear that since she’s getting the protection, she’s my concern.
I shake my head. “I am in NYC, not here. Antonio’s the head here.”
He smiles. “Brooklyn?”
“The accent’s live, huh?” I grin.
He laughs. “Well, it was great to meet you.” Antonio returns with the new contract and the Gadsens sign. Antonio lets them know that their bodyguards will be at their house tomorrow at 7 a.m. sharp. They leave, happy and thrilled to be working with RangeMan.
Antonio turns to me, cold. “I don’t appreciate you coming to my branch calling me a dumbass in front of clients.”
I shrug. “Homie, you were being a dumbass. The bodyguard was for the wife. You need to be talking to her.”
He’s pissed but fuck him. This is my first time meeting the fucker and I don’t like him. We talk shit over the phone and he seemed cool but I’m not feelin’ him right now. I’m peepin’ what the gossip about him said and so far, I agree. If he tries to treat the CO like he just treated that client, she’s gonna have to order me not to fuck him up.
“Her husband contacted us and he’s paying for it. He knows what’s needed.”
“First, that man had no fucking clue. I ask the wife and we learn everything we need to know. Second, I called you a dumbass because it made her smile. I said what she was thinking. She hated your ass ‘cuz you was ignoring her except to flirt with her. Again, bodyguard’s for her. You need to peep her.”
I hear a snort behind me. Hal enters the conference room and smirks at Antonio, who reddens. “Still haven’t learned the lesson, huh?”
Antonio gets up. “We had an excellent contract.” He turns to me. “Thanks. We have a contract for three men. NYC should watch their rearview.” He leaves and I shrug.
“Fuck the rearview. I’m looking out the windshield.” Seriously. August numbers ’bout to come out. We wanna see if we tipped Atlanta this month.
Hal smirks and closes the door. “Thoughts?”
“Assholes.” No wonder Thomas is ready to shank. I am too and I haven’t been here a whole day.
“No disagreement there, but I’m catching a whiff of something else. The department having the problems is the bodyguard department.”
“I believe it. I thought something about his style was off with the first couple, but I figured it out with the second one. He don’t respect the ladies. He talks down to ’em, acts like they amuse him.”
“What did he say?”
I think hard. “Nothing that I can pinpoint. Just no respect. You can feel it.” I shrug. “Or maybe I was just peepin’ it cuz I was listening to it for an hour. No love for the ladies around here. Makes no sense. Don’t these assholes have mommas? Sisters? Daughters?”
I frown; that bothers me. Yala brought my boys to me every weekend. My mamí kept the commissary account full. I love the ladies in my life cuz they’re truly ride or die. I look at Hal and grin. “I sold the contract by calling him a dumbass.”
Hal laughs. “Good job. Fucker still hasn’t learned.” He sobers and purses his lips, frowning.
“What’s good?” I ask, leaning forward.
“I think it’s time to wake Steph from her nap and tell her.”
“She’s thinking.” Deep thoughts about how to run game, shot call, and make us international, I’m sure. She’s major like that.
Ranger is the fuckin’ man. He chose the right lady for him.
Hal claps me on the back (Ouch! Heavy handed fucker!) and smiles. “Thinking position = naptime.”
I shake my head. Hey, she’s a busy lady. Gotta get that nap when you can, especially when you do big shit like her.
We meet in Diego’s office with Diego, Pat and Steph. Hal and I hip her to everything we’ve learned so far and Steph nods.
“I thought so,” she says, leaning back and exhaling. She still looks tired. “This is what I expected. OK, I’m thinking it’s time to get out and about.”
Hal and I pale but nod. Time to strap down again. She turns to Diego. “Pull all the contracts that were lost. I think I know exactly what’s going on.”
“You think he’s the mole?” Hal asks.
She shakes her head. “I think it’s deeper than that. Call a meeting of client services.” She grins. “Time for them to try to lead me around. Let’s see what they have to say.”
Diego looks confused, but he immediately pulls all the lost contracts and we make a list. Steph starts calling and making appointments to talk to these people over the next two weeks, starting next week, while we transfer the file upstairs. A whole week. Hal and I look at each other and I wonder if homie is as relieved as me.
Ranger’s apartment is sweet. I’m lookin’ ’round, recognizing this place is classy. It also aint’ got shit personal in it. Looks like some of our classier NYC safe houses. My apartment is clean and kinda empty, but pictures of my boys are everywhere. Lookin’ around in here you wouldn’t know Ranger has a daughter.
Dunno why, but I’m kinda disappointed in that. I’m proud to be Daddy. Then again, maybe the pics are in the bedroom. I see that’s locked. If people are allowed to be up here, for any reason, I can see why he’d keep his shit locked down. Everyone knows Ranger is a private man. He could have a raging porno collection and nudies of the Boss Lady behind that door and none of us would know.
Then again, that’s Les’s apartment. I grin at that thought. I had to help Lucia hide the porno collection before the CO arrived both times. Bobby thought that was hilarious. Les wanted him to pick up a few DVDs when he came for Liam’s beat down and I had to direct him to the storage room on 2A to get ’em.
That was shit I didn’t understand. I’ve seen Les operate in a club. Homie has no problem picking up women. And they generally like his ass the next time he see ’em. I need to see the ‘release’ part of Les’s ‘catch and release’ routine. Mine needs some help. Mine get clingy.
I head back downstairs. Diego’s called a client services meeting for 0900 tomorrow.
“What do you think she’s found?” I ask Hal. He shrugs.
“No idea.” He looks at me and smiles. Cold smile again. This motherfucker is cold as ice. I like that. “Watch and learn.”
Tuesday
It’s 0855. Me, Steph, Hal, Pat, Diego, and Thomas are here. Mario is here reppin’ bonds enforcement. Deuce is here reppin’ monitoring. Ryan is reppin’ both the bonds business and accounting. Braulio is reppin’ security installs.
The sun is hot and bright already. I’m in a bad spot. I get up and adjust the blinds so I can see and the Boss Lady smiles at me. I realize it was in her face too. I take my seat next to Hal. The XOs are next to the CO and me and Thomas next to them. Miami is at the other end of the table, with Ryan at the very end.
Antonio is cutting it close. He has armed guards and bodyguards. Finally, at 0859, he walks in and takes a seat next to Thomas. He’s not late but that shit was disrespectful. I finger a shank and mentally assess him. Kidney? Spleen? I look over and it’s clear Hal is doing the same. I look at the CO. She looks amused.
“Great. 0900 and everyone is here. I don’t have to ding you on that.”
Every man looks up and at her. The Miami men looked shocked.
“You’d count that against us without knowing why we cut it close?” Antonio asks coolly.
“You’d never show up late to a meeting Ranger chaired, would you?” she shoots back. I gotta work to hide the smile. First point to the Boss Lady. “So let’s get started.” She turns to Mario and Ryan. “State of the bonds business?”
Mario is off like a shot, telling her everything going on in Miami with bonds enforcement. Steph takes notes and nods, asking questions sometimes. I see her method. She lets him talk, asks questions to clarify what he says, and listens. Jorge all over again. No wonder homie loves her. They alike. She motions for me to grab her a water and I serve that up immediately, then bring water for everyone at the table.
I hear scratching at the door. It’s faint but I know no rat or mouse would be brave enough to be in this building. Rafe looks like the kinda man who don’t play with rodents. I know Miguel don’t in NYC and Miguel’s fighting NYC rats. They’re on ‘roids.
On a hunch, I open the door fast. Pedro’s dumb ass falls through and I help him on down to the ground by putting my elbow in his back. Once he’s down, I put my foot in his back. Everyone’s looking over, I gotta shank in hand and I’m assessing the rest of the fuckers standing outside the door. Fuck up now or later?
I look at Diego. “Guidelines.”
“Fuck ’em up on sight.”
I look at Pedro’s face on the floor. He’s wincing. “He’s supposed to be a brother so if I do what I wanna, my bro’s gonna be missing his spleen and half his face.”
Hal snorts. “Problem?”
Boss Lady smiles. “No, no stomping. They’re curious.” She smiles at me, pointedly, so I take my foot off his back. Another pointed look at the shank and I put it away. “Come on in. Clearly you want to participate. Please, introduce yourselves.”
It’s the little gang Mario was talking about plus a few more. They introduce themselves and take a standing position against the wall. The extras are Thierry, Josh, Pepe, and Gus. I return to my seat and finger my shanks. I didn’t bring enough.
The Boss Lady starts applying the thumbscrews.
“So, if I understand correctly, we’re cutting back on the bonds we write. Why?”
Mario leans forward, drawing little circles on his pad. “Well, it’s more that I called for a halt on writing bonds for foreign nationals. It’s risky and I wanna reassess our standing there. They flee and you need an extradition treaty to recapture, so we have to make sure we take sufficient collateral.
Lately, the banks have been foreclosing on houses, so we have to check the public record before we take a house as collateral. If it turns out we take the house as collateral while the bank is foreclosing on the loan, it’s a legal nightmare. We don’t take precedence. So now we’re out the skip and the collateral.”
I whistle. Fuck! Nasty. Steph grins as me. “What do you think, Mack?”
“Nasty. I mean, Mario’s got a point. If the bank fucks you over before we can, we’re screwed and hurting.” Everyone laughs. “Can you implant a chip in a skip? I mean, if the cops are allowed to LoJack, why can’t we?”
Everyone looks impressed. I’m thinking ankle bracelets chafe.
“Creative, if questionable legally. We’ll ask the lawyers.”
I smile. Boss Lady is telling me that shit won’t work but she likes my thinking.
“So what’s the solution? How do we increase the revenue in bonds enforcement?” Everyone is quiet. “No ideas?”
“We’re interested in what you think,” Antonio says, smiling. “We’ve heard about your work at the other branches and we’re impressed. It’s hard for us to believe that there’s such a large and crafty brain behind such a pretty face.”
What the fuck! He needs that 730! Hal is turning deep red and has redrawn the blade. I’ve drawn two shanks. Boss Lady looks highly amused.
“Thank you,” Boss Lady says, smiling brightly. She turns to Diego. “I like him. So far, he reminds me of myself when I was young and stupid.” Antonio stops smiling. Pity. Everyone else is trying not to piss themselves laughing. She turns back to him. “Perhaps I should be clear here. I’m reviewing the branch. Part of my job is to see how you think, how creative you are, to see what kind of brains are behind your pretty face.”
She motions for us to put the blades away. The Miami men shift. I’m thinking the Boss Lady’s tongue is as sharp as my blades.
“I’m assessing job performance too.” She looks at Mario and Ryan. “Ideas?”
“I’m not sure we really need to expand bonds enforcement,” one of the fuckers against the wall says.
“Why not? And you are?”
“Thierry. We have more work than we can really handle there right now.”
I’m frowning. Now, Mario made it seem like there was a decline. Now Thierry’s saying they don’t need more work. What the fuck?
Boss Lady looks confused too. “That contradicts what I’ve already heard—”
“No it doesn’t. Bonds enforcement doesn’t have a problem.”
Seriously?! Does Miami have hearing problems? The sun fried their brains? Diego and Thomas look murderous. So do Mario and Deuce. Antonio has his blank face in place.
The Boss Lady looks amused again. I’m glad she finds this shit funny. I’m thinking of taking Diego up on his orders.
“So you think there’s no problem?” He narrows his eyes and nods. “Mario doesn’t agree with you.” She turns to him. “Your man disagrees with you.”
“Thierry has no idea what I see at my level.” He turns to him. “And if he wants to stay upright, he’ll shut his fucking mouth and let the leadership handle business.”
It’s quiet in the room. No one from Miami is saying anything.
“CO?” Pat. I finger my shanks. Javi and Jorge use letter openers. I need to make a quick shopping trip to an office supply store.
“Pat?”
“What’s the range here in Miami? Are we just covering Miami-Dade or are we stretching into Miami metro?”
“Good question. Mario?”
“Miami-Dade.”
“So why not Miami metro?” I ask, leaning forward.
“Intel networks outside Miami-Dade are sparse.”
“Why?”
“High income areas. We don’t have any toeholds there, so we depend on our searches to give us clues on where to find people. That’s a disadvantage in Miami because this city is bilingual, multicultural and highly transient. If you don’t know people and the networks, you have a hard time capturing.”
“No Burg informants,” Hal murmurs, and the Boss Lady nods.
“Plus we have two issues in Miami. One, we’re known as a classy, upscale bonds company. We’re seen as expensive.” We nod. That’s good. “Two, we’re known as efficient. Capture rate was second only to Trenton. We haul in over 90% before the bond is forfeit and on the remaining 10% we take all collateral. In other words, if we write your bond, you’re making your court appearance. We only have three men we’ve never caught.”
I’m nodding. Yeah. That’s what’s up. “So we got an image problem here?” Everyone nods. The CO looks over at me like she’s trying to figure out where Imma go. I’m going to Texas. “So why not buy companies that aren’t RangeMan and use them as a front? Then we capture more bonds work but we don’t hurt the ‘RangeMan’ brand.”
That makes everyone sit back in their seat. I look at Boss Lady. “Yo, I’d like to see our offices next to the courthouse and the jail.”
“We don’t have ’em.”
“Fuck! Why not? That’s basic.” What kinda weed shop they running here? “Crying family members run out the courthouse willing to sell their souls to get family out of jail. Get them bonds at point of desperation.”
Mario shrugs. “It was never necessary before. We took your house, cars, boats, furs, jewels, shit, you see the weapons here. We didn’t need to worry about microwaves and TVs.”
I sit back. Clearly you ain’t hungry. “OK. Good point but you could use those places to feed RangeMan. Set up some low bonds shops and when the bond hits over $50,000, direct them to the bonds office here. Wins all around.”
“Yeah, but then we running small bonds. You know how Ranger feels about that.”
“I know that Ranger don’t like for RangeMan to run anything under $50,000. If I buy ABC Bonds, then the manager in charge of ABC bonds will run it.” I look at Boss Lady and Hal. “Can’t you set up a company to be owned by RangeMan but run by someone else?”
There’s a lot of snorts around the room. I’m wishing the Boss Lady was cool with me putting a shank on the table. No need; Hal puts his blade on the table. Everyone shuts up. The Boss Lady looks at him. His face is cold. She sighs and shakes her head. He puts it away, staring down the room coolly.
Me and Linden will be ace kool for a while.
“Perhaps I’m being a bit picky here,” Antonio says, leaning forward, “but let’s really look at this idea. First, it’s not RangeMan standards. Second, you aren’t even running it in NYC. Third, you want us to front some low-life company in front of us like a shield? I’m proud to be a RangeMan. I don’t need a beard.”
Beard? I thought that was a gay thing. Is this fucker gay? Not that I care but hell, info I wanna know. I sit back. “True dat. My bad, son. So, you were sayin’?”
Everyone smiles. Antonio looks at me. It’s silent for a few minutes.
“You ain’t got an idea. I do. In NYC, we run ideas to the ground. Pick at it, examine all angles, see if it will work. The CO approved us upping our limits to $250K because we have a problem with too many bounty hunters in NYC. So we super creative in capturing ours.”
I look at the CO. She’s smiling at me so I keep going. “Miami is different. You are a bonds shop. So far, I’m proposing we buy companies to run small bonds for us that we can use for big bonds. They’ll act as feeders. RangeMan is still known as upscale but we now own some grimy places, some places that can feed us cuz I know that the LC, they hungry. They stay hungry.”
Pat and Diego laugh. “True,” Pat says. “No good idea is abandoned under Les, especially if it might make money. Let’s resolve this by calling him. Mack, you present the idea. It’s yours.” He looks at the CO. “OK by you?”
“Please,” she replies. She dials then passes me the speakerphone.
“Santos.”
“Sir, this is Mack.”
“CO OK?” He sounds worried.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Les,” she replies, glaring at the phone. We all laugh.
“Sorry, Steph. I don’t get calls from Mack, so this is new. Mack, wassup?” Relief. Yeah, I know, sir.
“Sir, we talkin’ bonds here in Miami. I had an idea.”
“Really? Let’s hear it.”
I detail the idea to Les, foot shaking under the table. Me and Javi gon’ have to talk about that. He got me foot shaking now. There’s silence on the other end.
“Hmm … not a bad idea. We establish a presence at the courthouse and the jail, which we need, we still keep the RangeMan name separate, but we’re feeding the higher bonds. Kinda like owning Vinnie’s skeazy ass and making him work but making him pass all the high priced stuff to us.” The Boss Lady and Hal turn red trying not to laugh. Who is Vinnie? “Mack?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Good job. Nice to see your creativity there. Steph, still there?” Serious? He likes it?! Yes!
“Yeah. Ryan and Mario are here too.”
“Good. Yeah, I’ll talk to the rest of LC, but start scouting companies for that. We may move on that.” Click.
My foot stops. Steph looks at me and smiles. “Nice job. That’s what I wanted to see.”
I grin. She want a few good men? I’m ready.
A/N: The line ‘ It’s hard to believe that you can pack such a large brain into such a pretty head ‘ is one I actually saw online in one of those ‘Actors who went to Ivy League schools!’ slideshows. THAT was one of the nicer quotes, because ALL of the quotes applied to women were incredibly insulting. I was stunned.
Slang dictionary:
swing/swung/slung my balls: put my foot down. To approach something seriously. High school friend (Spanish ala España) used to say “Poner los cojones encima de la mesa” (to put my balls on the table). That was probably the only phrase that stuck!
Swirly: interracial relationship
Peep: to look at; to listen to
730: the psychological exam that inmates undergo while imprisoned or in transit through their court processes; denoting someone’s sanity (or lack thereof).
